The Late Tackle 01 11 2017: A New Timber? Plus, a Tailored Combine/Superdraft Update

Elsewhere, MLSSoccer.com’s The Kick Off topped the report of
FC Dallas’ Ryan Hollingshead getting hit by a car with a playful “Ouch!”, and,
surprisingly, FIFA took the “money-whore” option to expand the 2026 World Cup to include 48 teams.

Hmm…maybe MLS is changing world soccer…in bigger news…

Timbers Target A Winger

According to “sources,” the Portland Timbers have formally offered to take Sebastian Blanco off Argentinian club San Lorenzo’s hands. See
usual disclosures (e.g., I don’t follow the Argentine league, therefore know
nothing meaningful about this guy; I did, however, see Back Office Gavin ask
another guy if he’s good for MLS, and the other guy said yes), but one phrase
and some numbers in the article stand out:

“A creative midfielder capable of playing centrally or out
wide, he has three goals and five assists in 11 appearances in the current
Argentine Primera campaign and nine goals and eight assists in 78 appearances
in all competitions in his two years with the club.”

The numbers lack a certain “pop,” so here’s to hoping that
Blanco will get a little bump courtesy of the competitive quality between
Argentina and MLS (does such a thing exist? Looked like it last time I watched
Argentina regularly). I’m less hung up on that than caught between considering/ruing
the possibilities of Blanco sharing the “3-bank” in a 4-2-3-1 with Darlington
Nagbe, and Diego Valeri. The only real concern there comes with fitting all
these guys’ approaches into something coherent; I mean, I see the interrupted phrase
“capable of playing…out wide,” but, with Portland needing width badly as it
does, that’s sort of a big deal. To reframe that, does Blanco prefer playing
out wide, or is there a winger-to-be-named-later floating around out there?

Reserving judgment. For now, I’m happy to see a little (more)
ambition, and will hope the whole thing ends in a "nice problem to have" scenario.

And what about new defenders, guys?

MLS SuperDraft/Combine Update

A couple more highlight reels went up for yesterday’s Combine
matches between teams named for shoes (that’s the inspiration, right?): Control v. Tango and Chaos v. Copa. One thing to note there – and it’s only of note because
SBI’s Mock Draft 1.0 connected the player to Portland – winger Niko Hansen had a
solid outing (he fared both cold and...going with warm in the only Day 1 write-up I read).
Meanwhile, The Armchair Analyst posted another stock up/stock down post after
Combine Day 2. Of interest in there: defenders haven’t got many “stock up”
acknowledgements thus far, which raises doubts on the Timbers finding a
ready-made centerback in that particular well.

Another point of personal fascination in there: Jacori Hayes,
a guy blessed with the positional “Je ne sais quoi” as Nagbe, has generally
baffled Combine observers. Look, all I’m saying is that a cautionary tale
exists.

Goal.com is reporting that New York Red Bulls head
coach Jesse Marsch looks to be headed to the mothership, Red Bull Salzburg. If
true, that’s a pretty sweet nod to Marsch, who has shaped one of MLS’s better,
more entertaining franchises. With a few more financial resources, and a
presumably less-balanced league, maybe he can at least drag a team to the
title. The same report says former MLS stand-out Chris Armas will replace
Marsch and, as a fan of all those guys and an admirer of the team and most of
its works, here’s to hoping things end serendipitously all ‘round.

Then again, this whole thing ending up with New York
shooting its foot would continue the lovable “That’s so Metro” tradition.

Notes on Movements

In spite of earlier promises to clock only the speculation
that applies to the Timbers, news out of San Jose feels worth flagging. Even if
their swoop for either Darwin Quintero or Solomon Kalou (along with some other
names) the Earthquakes show signs that they’re not willing to take last year’s
boring, boring campaign sitting down. Again, same conference as Portland, so.....

Elsewhere, the Houston Dynamo’s home page introduced their
considerable crop of new players to fans. The collection of new toys should
pique interest all on its own, but, in going big at defender and forward, one
could argue that the Dynamo has starved its midfield a little. That’s not to
say they’re screwed – Houston did seek to build a better defense, and put Juan
David Cabezas to cover them – and there are few things more liberating in
soccer than feeling secure at the back. Still, they need someone to feed those new
forwards, and are relying on guys like Ricardo Clark, Boniek Garcia, and Andrew
Wenger to do it, at least so far. So, we’ll see how that shapes up.

Finally, Minnesota United signed a defender, a guy named
Vadim Demidov. While I don’t know shit about him (again), he boasts the kind of
resume that fans across MLS should find highly familiar (e.g. peripatetic).

All done. Barring…things I’ll be back tomorrow.
Go roll in the snow, all y’all! (Goddammit. This font changing thing at the bottom of posts is driving my crazy...fuck it.)